As our school system transitions from restoration to recovery, please visit our Hurricane Helene landing page for updates and resources at rcboe.org/hurricanehelene.

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The following statement is attributed to Dr. Kenneth Bradshaw, Superintendent of Schools at the Richmond County School System (RCSS):

I hope this message finds you well. As our staff to receive students on Wednesday, October 16, I have watched our transition from restoration mode to recovery after experiencing what Georgia Power calls the worst power outage in the company’s history. This week I’ve seen how we have come together as a community to support one another at our food distribution sites and in neighborhoods throughout Augusta. My heart and thoughts are with our students, staff, and families in Richmond County as we bounce back stronger than ever.

I am incredibly thankful to the employees who are braving the conditions around town for the good of our community. Our maintenance and IT teams have been working around the clock to tackle critical infrastructure needs. As always, RCSS Police have remained vigilant and offered their services to outside agencies to address the needs of our whole community. Nutrition Services has been a monumental help to families and first responders, providing free meals and water, and school administrators and staff have also been in the field. In addition, our severe weather response team, consisting of leaders from across operational departments, has been on-call for the past two weeks monitoring ever-changing conditions and acting quickly to bring our schools up to standard.

When you see these individuals in our community next week, please join me in sharing your gratitude to them. 

Here are some updates on the status of our schools as we prepare to open our doors:

• Power has been restored to nearly all of our schools and offices, most ahead of schedule, and all schools are projected to have power restored by Thursday.
• All schools have access to clean water and food supplies, and fortunately, no severe damage occurred that would prevent us from welcoming students and staff back.
• Roadway access to schools is near completion, and bus drivers will do dry runs of their routes this week.
• Our IT team is actively working to restore internet access to all schools, though we expect to experience some interruptions or outages in some of our schools.
• While extracurricular activities have resumed, they are operating at a limited capacity.

We are taking things slow and steady as we get back to normal, and I urge you to give yourselves grace as we do our best for our students and each other.

Thank you all again, and we look forward to seeing you next Wednesday.